Businesses rely heavily on IT infrastructure to perform their daily operations in the ever-evolving digital world of today. A seamless and safe digital environment is essential for everything from internal data processing systems to apps that interact with customers. This blog post will go into great detail on what a service operations center is, what it does, why it is important in today’s IT landscape, and how it helps with business continuity.

In today’s service-driven IT environment, a SOC is essential, and this article will help you understand why, whether you’re an IT professional, student, or business owner.

Service Operations Center(SOC)

A Service Operations Center (SOC) is a team in a company that monitors and manages all IT systems  24/7 like cloud services, apps, servers etc. You can think of it like a control room that keeps your company’s technology running smoothly, all the time, it makes sure everything is working properly. They detect the problem instantly and notify the technical team to fix it fast, so your business keeps running smoothly.

In simple words, basically, SOC is used to analyze, monitor, detect, and investigate cyber threats against organizations. The entire lifecycle of risks is managed by the SOC teams. They collaborate with other functions within the organization to gain insight into vulnerabilities and help to effectively mitigate them.

Core Functions of SOC

  • Prevention

Prevention is always preferable to cure when it comes to security. It serves as the initial line of protection against a variety of unknown and previously experienced dangers. By using prevention tactics, the danger is removed before it has a chance to infect the system. To prevent intrusion at entry points, tools such as network intrusion prevention systems (NIPS), endpoint detection and response (EDR) systems, and security information and event management (SIEM) are frequently utilized.

  • Asset maintenance

An asset inventory management system is essential to safeguarding the integrity of any data that your company handles and processes. Asset management provides a single source of truth for all assets, regardless of where they are deployed. Users, documents, licenses, containers, lifecycle stages, locations and more are all included in the asset data. Every kind of asset in the system, including networks, apps, endpoints, devices, and the cloud, should be identified by a SOC, and to prioritize the high-risk assets classify them according to their risk level. SOC teams can use asset management software to identify gaps, guide designated functions to address issues, and support overall compliance.

  • Monitoring

The employment of technologies that continually examine network traffic and log files, as well as other linked endpoints or systems for unusual activity is known as proactive monitoring. If any vulnerability is found monitoring tools trigger and they send related information to the SOC team.

  • Management and Maintenance

Information gathering, maintaining log files within the network, and monitoring suspicious behavior are all responsibilities of SOC teams. And it also helps with the auditing process.

  • Training

People play a big role in maintaining security. If we want a strong security system, then we need the right people, clear processes, and good tools. Many security problems, like internal threats or the use of unauthorized apps, happen because employees are not aware of the risks, so to prevent this, companies should run training programs that help employees to be aware of these kinds of threats and risks and how to prevent these risks from happening.It is also a good idea to test what they have learned and keep records of the results.

Types of SOC roles

To manage incidents a Service Operation Center(SOC) is typically divided into tiers or levels and this structure helps to make sure that incidents are handled by the appropriate personnel based on complexity and impact.

Let’s understand each tier one by one:

  • Tier 1 SOC Analysts:

A Tier 1 SOC analyst is a first line of defence in an organization. And the role of this analyst is to respond to security alerts and potential threats. It is an initial responder. Tier 1 SOC analysts participate in ongoing real-time monitoring of security tools and systems.

To spot unusual activity Tier 1 SOC analysts monitor security tools 24/7. They check if an alert is real or just a false alarm, they follow standard procedure to deal with known threats, and they also keep detailed notes about what happened. This document helps to create an audit trail or future reference and this document helps the tier 2 analyst to investigate. Tier 1 analyst is a backbone of any organization.

  • Tier 2 SOC Analysts

Tier 2 SOC analysts are the second line of defence in the  Security Operations Center. And the key role of this analyst is to handle and investigate complex security incidents. They analyse system logs to find the root cause. They use the threat intelligence to understand how an attack happened. Tier 2 SOC analysts work with different teams to fix issues. They work closely with developers and IT teams. These analysts explain technical issues clearly to both technical and non- technical teams. They maintain documents to help track patterns or improve processes for future incidents. We can consider the Tier 2 SOC analyst as a bridge between basic alert handling and deep threat hunting. They help keep the organization’s security systems strong and ready for future threats with their advanced knowledge and tools.

  •  Tier 3 SOC Analysts

Tier 3 analysts play an important role in improving the overall security program. To identify gaps in existing controls and strategic improvement, they conduct security assessments. Tier 3 analysts work involves detailed forensic analysis and advanced malware analysis. Tier 3 SOC analysts ensure that organizations can effectively defend against and respond to advanced cyber threats.

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Difference between SOC and NOC

 

SOC NOC
It stands for Security Operation Center. It stands for Network Operations Center
The key responsibility of  SOC analyst is handling security issues like malware, hacking, and data breaches. The key responsibility of  NOC analyst is handling technical issues like slow network, server crashes.
Protect systems from cyber threats. Ensure smooth network performance.
The main goal of SOC analyst is to keep information safe and secure. The main goal of  NOC analyst is to keep the network running smoothly.
They use security tools like SIEM, threat intelligence. They use monitoring tools for fault detection and performance.
SOC prevents problems before they happen. NOC fixes problems after they occur.

Conclusion:

The team of SOC analysts is a team that works behind the scenes day and night to make sure the organization’s data is safe from cyber threats or not. Everyone in the  SOC plays a key role in keeping things secure. You can think of  the SOC as  IT security superheroes we don’t always, see but definitely need.

We also look at how SOC is different from NOC. They both are important they help to keep the digital side of any business strong and smooth. Understanding the SOC is a great. As businesses continue to go digital. So stay curious, and keep learning, because the demand for skilled SOC analyst is going to grow. Who knows? You might be the next SOC analyst defending a company from the next big cyberattack.